Wednesday, 26 March 2014

Wellbeing Walking Gorleston Harbour

Solve it by Walking - Alison Hall...Solvitur ambulando! 'Solve it by walking', is an ancient piece of wisdom, acknowledging
that the mind works differently when you're mobile. I'd shared
this phrase with a colleague many years ago, and then misplaced that knowledge
myself.

Little did I know the phrase had lodged in
Colin's memory and that we'd be leading a session about well-being together
more than ten years later.Our
brains don't come with an instruction manual, and sometimes we all need a
little reminder about how to look after it and ourselves - and this was exactly
what this afternoon's session aimed to do - talk about some of those things we
should all have in our personal well-being tool kit.

As the Exhibitions Coordinator for Time and Tide
museum in Great Yarmouth, over the last few months I've been working on Frayed:
Textiles on the Edge, an exhibition exploring textiles, self-expression and
well-being.Part of the associated
programme of events was a session at Gorleston library looking at the exhibition
in relation to the Five Ways to Well-Being, and the things you can do to
maintain your own well-being in your everyday life.The library-based session was followed by a well-being walk
along Gorleston's quayside.

The sun was bright, the breeze crisp.There were seagulls overhead and a seal
struggling against the tide in the water below.Walking, looking, talking and taking photos occupied our
next hour.The time and
space to connect with someone else and the place you find yourself in was focused
by the lens of an iPhone camera.We gave ourselves an opportunity to take notice andappreciate the beauty in the everyday,
ordinary and unkempt.

I'd gotten out of the habit of taking walks to
take photos, but the creative part of my brain soon got into gear. And the
discovery of the square photo setting on my phone (I was aware of it before but
I'd never really used it) meant I was starting to focus on what I was seeing
and photographing in much the same as I would if I was making my own paintings
and drawings (before museums became the focus of my working life I spent much
of my time making series of small square paintings based on fragments and
glimpses of landscapes and architecture.)

Ignoring the increasing chill in my fingers, I
shot away until my phone's memory was full, devouring textures, light, shadows
and spaces. So, here is a
small selection of the photos I took that afternoon. I hope they inspire you to
go for a walk of your own.